Election sketchbook: Change

There weren’t any lines at my precinct when I voted this morning. I talked to a few others who said the same about their own precincts. But that is likely because of a high volume of early voting in Harris County this year. According to Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman, who was interviewed for Lisa Falkenberg’s column today:

She believes the number of souls who voted early and by mail, 730,000, could be doubled today, a turnout totaling more than 1.46 million voters.

That would represent an astounding 74 percent of about 1.96 million registered voters in Harris County.

Larger than usual turnout was reported at polling stations in a number of key states, and lengthy lines, hour-long waits and overflowing parking lots were not unusual. Some voting experts and campaign advisers predicted that some 130 million voters would cast ballots, which would be the highest percentage turnout in a century, and would shatter the previous record of 123.5 million people who cast ballots four years ago.

Were there long lines at your own voting place? Any apparent voting glitches?